


you look pretty

by dallaro



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Identity Reveal, SO MUCH FLUFF, adrien is just too precious, i'm sorry but i had to write this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-30
Updated: 2016-04-30
Packaged: 2018-06-05 13:29:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6706246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dallaro/pseuds/dallaro
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Marinette has her hair down and Adrien can't handle anything.</p>
            </blockquote>





	you look pretty

Adrien knew he was screwed from the moment Marinette walked into class. 

For the most part, it was an average morning. She'd come in late, apologized profusely to the teacher for her tardiness, only this time her pretty dark hair was left falling around her pretty face, past her pretty chin, just beneath her pretty shoulders. 

"You look really pretty today, Marinette," Adrien blurted out, eyes widening, before he could catch himself. _Why did he say that? He shouldn't have said that. Oh, God, why?_

As he contemplated the appealing idea of hiding under his desk, or perhaps _(purr-haps?)_ jumping out the window, Marinette froze in the process of seating herself next to her outspoken best friend and swiveled her gaze to him. Her face was flushed—was that because of him or her lateness?"A-ah, really? I mean—uh— thank you— you look pretty, too—I mean beautiful— handsome! You look handsome. Um, yeah." 

Adrien flashed her an awkward smile, wincing at his own social incompetence. He'd practically been torn in two these past few months over the girl sitting behind him and the girl covering his computer monitors. He'd always considered himself completely devoted to Ladybug— his mind, body, and heart. 

But now he wasn't so sure. 

Adrien would still do anything for his lady, of course. But recently, on the late nights when he couldn't sleep, he found his thoughts drifting towards the shy, but passionate up-coming fashion designer. Patrolling the city during late nights, Adrien gradually stopped hoping he would run into his partner, and began feeling drawn to the cozy bakery tucked between the streets of Paris.  
Even now, as he tried futilely to focus on the teacher's lesson, he couldn't help but think of Marinette soft hair, and how it cascaded down her shoulders, the way it would feel running through his fingers—

Adrien smacked his forehead right down on his desk, hard, successfully breaking his train of thought with the dull sensation of pain. It wasn't that bad. He'd been hurt much worse fighting Akumas. 

At the resounding thump where his forehead currently rested, the attention of the entire class turned to him, including hers and _oh dear god_ he could feel her eyes burning into the back of his head she probably thought he was crazy and he'd never be able to meet her eyes again, but her eyes were so pretty and Adrien fought the urge to thump himself on his now aching head. 

"Oh my God, Adrien! Are you alright? What if your forehead bruised? I mean, I'm sure you could get it covered up, but it'd be a pain in the ass!" Chloé fretted dramatically, manicured hands coming up to her face, as if she'd be the one suffering. 

Out of the corner of his eye, she saw Marinette's eyes sparkling with worry. Maybe she didn't think he was weird. Maybe she was actually worried. Maybe she genuinely cared about him. Maybe she even liked him bac— 

Tapping his head lightly against the desk one more time, for good measure, he sighed, lifting his head off the smooth slab of whatever-the-hell-this-desk-was-made-of. "Don't worry, I'm fine, Chloé. I just—" Adrien's half-hearted excuse was interrupted by three loud, consecutive crashes coming from outside. 

"I am the Deformer, and you shall all fear me!"  


An akuma. 

Great. 

"Um, Miss, I have to go to the bathroom, I'll be back soon," Dashing out the door, Marinette stuttered an excuse to the teacher. 

"Can't you wait? We all have to stay where it's safe inside the classroom!" Their teacher called out to the retreating figure. Adrien fought the urge to snort. These days, it seemed like most of the Akuma attacks happened inside their class. Adrien wanted to laugh at the irony of it all. 

"Sorry, but I have to go too, it's an emergency," Adrien called out, darting past the frantic woman. He ran down the hall and ducked down in the boy's bathroom. "Plagg, wake up." 

The black kwami crawled out of his white shirt. "Aw, what now? Please tell me it's time for cheese." 

Adrien groaned in exasperation at the kwami's lazy antics. "Not now, you sluggish cat-thing, we have to go help. Ladybug is probably out there already!" 

"Who are you callin' a slug, boy? I have been saving the world from you idiotic humans for centuries! I am your—!" 

"Plagg, transform me!" Adrien cut the kwami off from his frenzied complaining and as soon as he finished the familiar transformation, he headed toward the ruckus down the street. Adrien soon spotted his red-and-black clad companion on top of a building, facing off against the Akuma. 

"Did you miss me, Milady?" Adrien purred, landing on the rooftop next to Ladybug. 

She grinned, turning to look at him.. "Nice timing Chat, I was beginning to worry you'd been caught up in cat-nap. I think I've figured out—" 

But Adrien wasn't listening. His thoughts were purely focused on the state of partner's glossy locks. Her hair was down and she looked really pretty. Prettier than normal. Just as pretty as—

Marinette. 

Marinette's hair was down. For the first time he'd seen. Ever. 

So was Ladybug's. 

On the same day. 

"Oh. My. Paw-d." Adrien could not handle this new information. It had to be a coincidence. It didn't make any sense. But at the same time it made complete sense. Never being seen together, always disappearing during an Akuma attack, the voice, the eyes, even the way they hold themselves. Kind and brave. Now he couldn't stop seeing the similarities between the two of them. No, there weren't two. It was one person. Ladybug and Marinette Dupain-Cheng were the same all along. 

Ladybug was Marinette. 

Marinette was Ladybug. 

All the heartache Adrien had been feeling was pointless. Going crazy over two equally amazing girls, only to find out she was just one girl the entire time. 

"Hey, Chat, are you okay? You look a little pale over there. Don't forget you're Chat Noir, not Chat Blanc. You're not scared are you?" Ladybug put a gloved hand on his shoulder and Adrien blinked, lifting his eyes to meet hers. Despite her joking tone, Ladybug's eyes were filled with worry. Just like Marinette's were back in class—

"Y—yeah, I'm purr-fectly fine. Scared? M-me? No way, that's im-paw-sible, I'm n-no scaredy-cat. Wh-what were you saying just now, I didn't quite catch it?" Adrien stammered through his obvious lie, turning away from her burning gaze. 

"I was saying," Ladybug responded, still looking dubiously at him, "That I think the akuma is in The Deformer's script. He looks like he was a performer in the local production of _The Mask_ , but he got fired and is now out for revenge on the director. He's using the script to write out what happens, and when he reads it aloud, it become reality. I managed to spill ink from his pen all over it, but now he's out looking for whiteout." Pausing in her explanation, she looked at him, checking to make sure he was taking in all the information. "I think you'd be able to get close enough to rip the paper, because the Deformer doesn't know you're here yet. I'll distract him." 

"Sounds like a plan, Pri—Milady. Where'd he go to for the whiteout?" Adrien asked, itching to stop this guy, so he could lay down for a while and cool his throbbing head. 

Ladybug furrowed her brow at his slip-up, but answered him confidently. "He was heading down south, a few minutes ago, if we stay on the rooftops, we should be able to reach him pretty quickly." 

The two superheroes set off racing across rooftops, and Adrien couldn't help thinking about how nice Ladybug's loose hair looked in the wind. 

"You're hair looks really pretty today, my lady." Shit, he didn't mean to say that.  
"What?" Ladybug stopped in her running, baffled at his outburst. 

"N-nevermind, let's, uh, keep going." They kept on jumping, roof to roof, and Adrien wanted more and more with each passing second to crawl in bed and never come out from the safety of his blankets. 

Once the duo began hearing screams, Ladybug instructed him to go around the back of the store and ambush him once she'd started to distract him. 

Adrien crept around the store, entering through the back door that was left unlocked, probably due to a speedy evacuation of the office supply store. He hid behind an aisle of multi-colored pens, until he heard Ladybug's voice. 

"Hey, Deformer! Did anyone ever tell you your acting sucks? I mean, you have a nice stage presence, I think, and you seem really dedicated, but you're way too imposing and over-dramatic." 

The actor-turned-villain paused in the act of carefully painting white out onto his script, to respond to Ladybug's taunting. "How dare you insult my spectacular performance? I shall become the greatest actor you will ever see! The entire world will be my stage!" 

Quietly, Adrien crawled over to the counter where his script layed, trying not to blow his cover by laughing at the Deformer's over-dramatic speech. 

Ladybug clicked her tongue in disapproval at the Akuma's claim. "Now that's where you’re wrong. You're being a drama queen. And nobody wants to work with one of those. Believe me, I know one personally. Why don't you come a little closer and let me give you some advice. I promise it'll be useful." 

The Deformer slowly edged closer to the girl. "Really? Are you an actor as well? 

Ladybug graced a small smile over her lips, most likely at the villain's surprisingly gullible nature. "I suppose that's one way to put it. Now, as for some much-needed advice: don't leave your script laying out where anyone can steal it, it’s not very professional." 

"What?" Outraged, the Deformer whirled around to check on the now-ripped up script falling from the smirking Adrien's claws. 

Ladybug took her yo-yo out, wasting no time in capturing and purifying the Akuma. "Bye-bye, little akuma," she waved. She then alerted the cowering civilians that they were safe, before turning to Chat for their congratulatory fist-bump to which he readily obliged. 

"Milady?" Adrien asked tentatively. "Would you mind coming somewhere with me so that we can talk privately? It's kind of important." 

Ladybug tugged at a strand of hair around her face, uncertain. "Chat, my transformation is probably going to wear off soon, and I have to get back to school, now isn't—." 

"Please, Milady," Adrien asked dejectedly. He needed to get this over with now, like ripping off a band aid, or else he was sure his heart would explode. 

Eyes softened. "Alright." 

 

\- 

 

They found an unoccupied rooftop, shaded so no one would notice them, and sat down, shoulder to shoulder. 

"So what was it that you needed to talk to me about?" Ladybug, or Marinette, bumped her shoulder comfortable against his, sending heat to his cheeks, a shudder through his spine, and his heart fluttering. 

"I—you're— I jus—know—"Adrien cut himself off. How hard was it to just tell her he knew who she was? _Ripping off a bandaid, I'm just ripping it off. Quick and painless._ He opened his mouth to speak again, but coming up with no words. Frustrated he ran a hand through his hair, pulling up his bangs and letting them sit on top of his head. He turned his head back to face her, and noticed how wide her eyes had gotten. 

She started at him, mouth open, cheeks flushed. "You—Chat—You're—Adrien." With that, her cheeks grew an even brighter pink, and she covered them both with her hands, pulling her knees up to her chest. 

He stared at her in shock as she mumbled to herself, eyes darting to him like she couldn't believe he was actually there. "H—how do you know that, Marinette?" he whispered. 

"Your forehead. The bruise. Adrien—you—in class, he had the same—." She stopped. "W—wait. How do you know who I am?" 

Adrien stared at her, confused. Then it hit him. He called her Marinette. Apparently it was pretty easy to tell her he knew her identity. "Y—your hair. It was down. How did you know it was me? It could've been a different bruise from the other one." 

Marinette's face grew even redder, now it matched the color of her mask. "I thought it looked kind of like an elephant a little bit," she mumbled, barely loud enough to hear. 

"An elephant." He repeated.

"I gave up my secret identity because my bruise looks like an elephant." Adrien couldn't help it anymore. He started laughing. The entire situation the two students-slash-superheroes were in was just too unbelievable. It was like a dam burst inside of him. The laughter kept pouring out of him, leaving him gasping for breath. 

 

Next to him, Marinette started laughing too. "I gave up my identity because I overslept and forget to put my hair up!" 

After laughing until their stomachs ached, the two of them finally sobered up, Adrien realized that they must've unconsciously scooted closer to each other. The arms were pressed against each other, and Marinette's head had fallen on his shoulder. "I guess I don't need to have my transformation on anymore," Marinette spoke softly. 

She tapped an earring, whispering something he couldn't quite catch, even with his enhanced hearing, and suddenly he found himself face to face (arm to arm, shoulder to shoulder, knee to knee) with Marinette. Even though he'd known her identity, albeit not for long, it was different looking her in the eye with no mask. 

Feeling slightly self-conscious being the only one with a mask and skin-tight suit, Adrien muttered, "Plagg, release transformation." 

The black kwami flew out from his ring and immediately began calling out, "Tikki!" 

Before Adrien could question him, a small, cute red thing flew out from behind Marinette exclaiming, "Plagg, it's been a while. How have you been?" Adrien couldn't tell if she was mocking him with her saccharine voice or not. 

The grumpy cat huffed. "If by eighty-six years you mean 'a while' then sure, it's been a while." 

The red kwami, Tikki, cheerfully ignored his bad attitude. "Fu certainly chose well for our holders this time don't you think?" 

Plagg looked back at the two very confused teenagers staring at the kwamis. "Well, he definitely chose well for _you_ at least. This boy spends all his time telling me about how amazing and beautiful she is. So annoying." 

"Plagg," Adrien protested as Marinette squeaked, covering her returning blush with her hands. Her hands looked pretty. They were smooth and pale and ungloved. He wondered what it would be like to hold it with his own. 

"Oh, leave the poor boy alone. Those two must be so overwhelmed, let's just go somewhere else and leave them to talk for a bit." Tikki, Adrien's newfound savior, chastised Plagg. 

 

Plagg relented and the two of them suddenly found themselves left all alone again, with no masks to hide behind. 

"So..." 

"So..." 

"You sat right in front of me this whole time." Marinette observed. "Four feet away."

Adrien nodded, finding his mouth to be too dry to respond. 

"It's ironic isn't it?" Marinette said. Adrien just _loved_ irony. 

He nodded again. 

"Okay." She said after awhile, falling silent. 

"I have a really huge crush on you," Adrien felt the words tear themselves from his mouth, unable to shove them back in. "Ever since I met you as Ladybug I was basically in love with you, and then I met you as Marinette and you were so cool and nice and normal. My first real friend. I always loved Ladybug, but then I started to get closer to you and talk to you more and I couldn't help liking you too. And then I was really confused for these past few months because I liked two different people, but it turns out you were the same person, and now I'm just really confused and I have no idea why I just said all that and I'm gonna stop now." Adrien caught his breath, then held it, waiting for her response. 

They stayed in silence for awhile, until she answered.

"W—why? Why me? Why not just Ladybug. She's so much more brave and talented and not clumsy or shy." Her voice was small. 

Adrien's heart skipped a beat. Or two. "What do you mean? Marinette's brave and talented. I've seen your designs and the way you stand up to Chloe. And yeah, you're awkward and clumsy, but it's cute. Endearing. But you're Ladybug, too. You're still Marinette, even when you have a mask on." 

She lifted her head. "Does that mean I can kiss you now?" 

 

"What—what do you mean?" That was it. Adrien's heart couldn't take it anymore. Ten more seconds of her and he'd pass out. 

"I mean, I thought you would've noticed by now that I have a huge crush on you, too. I could hardly look you in the eyes at school, or get out an actual sentence. I knew I liked you as Chat, too, because even with your dumb cat puns, I couldn't help my heart from racing." 

"You don't like my puns? Those are the best part of all this!" Adrien teased her, motioning towards himself by running his hands down his body. 

"No." 

"You're just jealous that I'm more punny than you." 

"Not at all! That isn't even a good pun," Marinette protested, all while laughing at him. 

"Is too!" 

"No, it's way overused! I like it when you make them up on your own," she admitted.

"Hah! So you do like my puns." 

"…" Marinette looked like she was about to respond, then she pursed her lips and looked away pointedly, crossing her arms. 

"Anyways." The blond cleared his throat. "To your question earlier. Yes." 

"What?" Now Marinette sounded puzzled, turning back to face him again. 

"You can kiss me. But I might kiss you first." Adrien challenged. 

He leaned down as she leaned up, his lips finally coming in contact with hers. He reached a hand out laying it at the base of her neck, tilting her head back and pulling her closer. He pulled back before going in for a second kiss. And a third. And a fourth, more pressure, teeth, and tongue with each. 

At last, they pulled apart and stayed that way, basking in each other's comfort. Marinette intertwined her fingers with his. "You, know we've probably missed school by now." 

Adrien pulled her closer, sniffing her hair in the process. "Good, that means we can just stay up here." 

She pushed his face with her hand. "Don't sniff my hair, you dumb cat." 

"I can't help it, princess. You look so purr-ty." 

 

\- 

 

"I hate you." 

"You love me." 

"Yeah, but I hate you even more."

“You must hate me a lot then.”

“I do.”

**Author's Note:**

> this is the first story i've written. please please please comment and leave any helpful criticism that you have.


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